Pages

Thursday, 28 April 2016

We have an offer on some of our smaller sized 15mm science fiction vehicles. Valid until the month switches over early hours of the 1st May. The hover, floating variants of the Adder Combat Lifter series of vehicles. An offer of 25% off on each code. Go HERE

A detailed account of the origins and design of the Adder series of Combat Cars can be found elsewhere in the database (link). However not all the Adders taken from the ancient military designs were of a wheeled variety there were others too. In some campaigns the Muster required light vehicles that could traverse ground that wheeled and tracked designs could not. While repulsar technology was available its relative expense compared to more primitive lifter technology for hover propulsion made the production of a huge number of Adder Combat Lifters the feasible choice for equipping the Prydian Army. Worlds with a lot of water and swamps and also urban zones with broken ground were ideal for these vehicles. They could carry a four man fire-team or they could act in a support role with mounted weapons in the same range as those used by crewed weapons or battlesuits. A modular hull meant that often only the turret and some internal systems had to be changed over to create a new model in the series.

Adder Combat Lifters come in many types within the series. With an average weight of just over seven tons and roughly seventeen feet in length that Adder is not as resilient a vehicle as the Mullo used by the Retained but its easier to maintain. A colour coding system is in use to make Adders easy to assign to Regiments (and indeed the Marcher Barons use the same system) and to allow Muster who can sometimes not be as used to war as a Retained Knight a simple recognition method. The Red Adder is the standard Combat Lifter with space for four and mounting a turret with a Moth 88 Rotary Cannon. The Yellow Adder is the fire support lifter and has two crew along with a turret with an Anda 60mm Missile Pod. The Black Adder acts as an armoured punch giving the Muster the ability to knock out battlesuits and other smaller tough targets with two crew and a turret mounted Fretan Rail Gun. Less common is the Orange Adder which is infantry support mounting a specialised turret with a Moth 30 automatic 50mm Grenade Launcher which is a recent introduction to the series. Others in the Adder lifter series include the Green Adder which is a command and control at the battalion level and the White Adder for medical teams and battlefield triage. The 'Battle Taxi' type Grey Adder is heavily modified and can carry two fire-teams or a whole squad at a real squeeze. There are also some very specialised Adders too for purposes such as Blue Adder, the Brown Adder and the Purple Adder. Every Muster Regiment is in possession of hundreds of Adders across the spectrum for all its roles and since they are so easy to fabricate and to maintain they are making a real impact in the ongoing Civil War and in the Camarthen Star System too.

We have an offer on some of our smaller sized 15mm science fiction vehicles. The hover, floating variants of the Adder Combat Lifter series of vehicles. An offer of 25% off on each code. Choose exactly what you want in your order. The Adder is the standard light combat lifter used by the Muster in the Ion Age. Go HERE Adders come in colour defined variants:

IAF036A Red Adder Combat Lifter (Mini-Gun Turret)

IAF036B Yellow Adder Fire Support Lifter (Missile Pod Turret)

IAF036C Black Adder Punch Lifter (Rail Gun Turret)

IAF036D Orange Adder Combat Lifter (Hermit Grenade Turret)

IAF036E Green Adder Control Lifter (Comms and Command)

IAF038 Smashed Adder Lifter (Hover Destroyed Vehicle)

This Weekend only 3.00GBP save 25% off 4.00GBP normal price. Valid until the month changes over early on 1st May 2016. Every order placed gets the IMP32 Hand of the Duxis miniature (worth 0.60GBP) included free automatically. You also get your Reward Points for having an account with us and you can use your points for a discount off these already reduced prices.

If you missed our releases for April 2016 you can see them HERE the Shia Khan Legion platoon pack and the new Legionary Command Tesseran.

The Adder Combat Lifters are resin and white metal vehicle kits which require a small amount of assembly. They have a single piece highly detailed body in resin and a separate turret in resin which if required comes with a white metal weapon to mount and or white metal hatch covers. The smashed adder is a one piece resin casting. Excellent value and useful for just about any 15mm science fiction wargame from the present day to near future and space opera too. An Adder Lifter kit once assembled is approx 60mm long, 30mm wide and about 25mm tall. Typically only two or three pieces which are very easy to assemble. The Smashed Adder Lifter is approx 70mm long and 40mm wide in one piece of resin. It can be used in your games as a terrain marker, a scenario objective or a casualty of an Adder in play.

We think that the Adder Combat Lifters are great light vehicles and we hope that you do too. Excellent Value and very useful. Thank you for your support of all of us here at The Ion Age in allowing us to pursue our dream of a space opera future that is wholly its own.

Thursday, 7 April 2016

It is still very unclear what the military structural systems of the Shia Khan Empire actually are. Certainly we capture few prisoners and none of them will allow us a grasp of information that is of use. In fact I feel that the enemy, at least at the lowest echelons which we face in the fray, has no idea what their position is in their own Legion never mind anything larger. Our linguists have had no luck deciphering the guttural snarl of the Maligs tongue or the lilting tune of the few Legionaries we have taken alive. What we do know is all observed from first hand combat experience and studied from helm recordings. Not as much as we would like but unlike the Reord we do not know all. The Khanate Empire uses the Legion as its primary formation of war. We do not know how many troops are in a Legion and it seems to vary. Certainly the Styx Legion in its red glimmer suits is larger than the Cyclopes legion or the vicious Viper Legion. There are several racial types with a Legion but they seem to mix fairly freely at the platoon and lace level. We know the Khan word for platoon. It is 'Ordos' and an Ordos seems to have about thirty to thirty two members. Ordos are mixed Legionaries and others with support weapons, portable weapons, vehicles and warlords too. While our Retained are a match for most Ordos we have found that the Muster can struggle without Desteria or Havelock support. As the campaign to take back Camarthan Prime continues we shall learn more. I am sure of this.

Knight General Obermann. Fleet Command. 4331IC

We have two new releases this month into our 15mm scale Shia Khan Empire army at The Ion Age. These are now on our website. Expanding our Legionary presence with a fourth completing Tesseran of eight in command poses plus a platoon pack containing all four Tesserans plus a unique extra free Legionary Sniper miniature only found there. If you missed it we also have a Female Battlesuit Tech miniature free this month in all orders see the article HERE. Our two week free postage offer is now live as well meaning all orders over 10.00GBP in product are automatically free worldwide for freight. This lasts until the 18th April and you can order as often as you like plus spend your Reward Points and save more and get free shipping too! Lastly all IAF036 Adder Combat Lifters (5 variants) plus IAF038 Smashed Adder Combat Lifter are all at 25% off list price until the end of the month HERE. Stock up before the Callsign Taranis book comes your way in May.

IAFP05 Legionary Ordos Platoon Pack (with unique miniature)

This platoon pack contains a full Ordos of miniatures as well as an additional free unique miniature found only in this code. An Ordos of thirty two Legionaries composed of four Tesserans of eight glimmer suit clad Legionaries plus one Legionary Sniper with modified Laser Rifle. A full force for your wargaming table. This platoon pack is composed of the following packs: IAF006 Legionary 1st Tesseran (Juno Rifles), IAF011 Legionary 2nd Tesseran (Apollo Support), IAF018 Legionary 3rd Tesseran (Maia Mpi) and IAF123 Legionary 4th Tesseran (Command and Casualties). Legionary Sniper with modified Honus Laser Rifle. The Legions of the Shia Khan Empire are the main fighting force of the Empire. Legionaries are their core who command themselves and oversee the hordes of Malig Space Goblins and instruct the hulking Warlords too. Organised into standard Tesserans (8 Troops) and Ordos (32 Troops) they are a flexible and effective fighting force. Legionaries are respected by the Retained, equals of the Muster and feared by the Planetary Militia. This code comprises thirty three different poses of 15mm scale white metal miniatures. You have the option of purchasing a pack or three packs with a 10% saving applied on screen. Supplied Unpainted and without Bases. Go HERE 16.00GBP

IAF123 Legionary 4th Tesseran

The command element of any Khanate Legionary force this pack contains eight white metal 15mm scale Legionary Infantry miniatures. A senior officer in cloak with Porus Rifle, Ordo Officer with Porus Rifle calling on, Legionary with Porus Rifle advancing, Legionary Medic with Vibro Blade, Legionary with Comms Suite and Porus Rifle, Legionary Banner Bearer, Fallen Legionary on his side and lastly a Fallen Legionary laid on his back. Legion are dressed in reactive glimmer suits and self contained breather systems with limited auto aid ability. As always this code can be bought as a pack or as single miniatures or select the three packs and save 10% option on the page. Go HERE. Price 4.00GBP per pack.

There is a good selection of Legionaries in our range which go with this new pack. As you have seen there is a Command Tesseran plus an Ordos Platoon Pack but there are also the other Tesseran codes each with eight different poses IAF006 Legionary 1st Tesseran, IAF011 Legionary 2nd Tesseran, IAF012 Legion 1st Pioneers, IAF019 Legion 2nd Pioneers and IAF018 Legionary 3rd Tesseran and IAF045 Legate Vanya. There is also IAF007 Canthus Monocycle set too. Not forgetting five codes of Malig Space Goblins, three of power armoured Nox as well as Warlords and Betrayers. Including the new packs there are now over one hundred different 15mm Khanate miniatures! Go HERE to see them all.

Information Burst!

You have now seen all our releases for April 2016 and you know the special offer Salute Season period too plus the little lady you get free in every order so what is left to say? As always a big thank you to all the wargamers all across the world who make my dream of a space opera future a reality. Beyond this remember IMP32 is automatically put into every order at the rate of one per order regardless of order value. It can also be bought in any amount on the monthly IMP page of the website for this month only too before being withdrawn on the first of next month. You earn reward points on all orders too through your account (we NEVER send any email or such to your account its sole function is to keep your Reward Points, sign up to our email list if you want our newsletters). We realise that some of you may wish to purchase the currently free miniature to get multiples of it without placing a lot of orders so you can do just that. Visit HERE on the website for the miniature at a fair price for a special miniature.

Lastly there will be news on Callsign Taranis the expansion to Patrol Angis towards the end of this month. It has been a long time coming but its getting near. Look to the blog in late April. Stock up first with this offer of 25% off Adders HERE.

Monday, 4 April 2016

The Ion Age has begun its Salute Season. While we will not be attending the show in London you will not miss out! For two weeks from now until the end of the 18th April 2016 (we will end about 9am GMT on 19th April) we are offering FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on all orders anywhere (no limit per customer) on orders over 10.00GBP product value. This applies to all of our ranges, all of our books, miniatures and anything else we sell. Just add items to your cart and proceed to checkout and the website will automatically do the rest. Go HERE and explore.

We have releases and other offers during this period too. These will be put up in articles over the next week or so in detail but in brief here is everything that will be happening during this period:

Monthly Free Miniature

IMP32 Hand of the Duxis

New Releases (5th April)

IAF123 Legionary 4th Tesseran (8) (Command)

IAFP05 Legionary Ordos with unique miniature (32+1)

Monthly Special Offer

IAF035 Adder Combat Lifters (all five variants) 25% off

IAF038 Smashed Adder Combat Lifter 25% off

Combing Orders

So if you like Flintloque, High Fantasy, Ganesha Games and other 28mm scale ranges check out Alternative Armies. If you like 15mm scale including HOT Fantasy, TTF Fantasy, HOF Science Fiction, Laserburn, Altuos Renaissance, Pony Wars and ACW, Isarus Dark Age, Medus Medieval along with 6mm sci-fi and a lot more go to 15mm.co.uk.

Our three websites are having a free postage event. If you place an order for more then ten pounds (10.00GBP) the shopping cart will automatically give you free shipping worldwide. As many orders as you like across one, two or all three of our websites at www.alternative-armies.com, www.15mm.co.uk and www.theionage.com. While the vast majority of customers are happy to place orders in this way we know that some of you would like to place a combined order by email and receive a paypal invoice to pay. This is totally fine with us and here is what to do for a combined order by email. Firstly choose your point of contact. Is it Alternative Armies, 15mm.co.uk or The Ion Age? Choose one and email us on sales@alternative-armies.com, sales@15mm.co.uk or info@theionage.com.

Make your email title 'combined order' and give us your name, your shipping address, your paypal email address and a list of codes and quantities that you want to order from across our ranges. We will then reply with a total and a paypal invoice. You will get a free monthly miniature if you have Ion Age codes and you will get any other items offered free if applicable from the other websites if you have codes from its ranges in your order. We typically reply quickly but be assured you WILL NOT miss the free postage on your combined order as we will honour it as long as your email comes in before the offer ends. Speak to you soon. Thanks.

Friday, 1 April 2016

Repair and Operate: This skill is given free to all suitable Drones and to Vehicle Crew, Mechanics and Techs in your force. Field repairs and if required subsequent operation during a battle is no easy task and only the brave of the machine attempts it. If your Troop Element possessing the skill is within 1cm of a Vehicle (any kind of Vehicle including Infantry Sized Vehicles) they may attempt to repair it. This cannot take the unit beyond its original maximum DMR rating. This cannot be carried out upon destroyed or killed units but it can be upon damaged and disabled units. This requires one action to be used per attempt with no maximum attempts per turn. Only one Troop Element may attempt repairs per turn. Roll 1D8 and on a 6+ add 1 DMR to the chosen vehicle for Repair Drones and 7+ for Humans for the same result. Any Human Crew or Pilots who are Vehicle crew may use this skill to automatically be able to capture, start and operate another Vehicle or Portable Weapon at a cost of one action. Included in the cost of allowable Drones and Humans including Battlesuit pilots.

Taken from Callsign Taranis a forthcoming publication from The Ion Age in the Advanced Rules special skills section. An Expansion to Patrol Angis

Welcome to April at The Ion Age. This month sees our 'Salute Season' which begins on 4th April with two weeks (until 18th April) of free worldwide postage on all orders over 10.00GBP (you still get the free miniature and Reward Points in every order as normal) plus new releases into the Shia Khan Empire 15mm range. These releases will be made on the 5th April meaning you can get right in and serve the Khanate straight away.

There is now also a promotion on all Adder Combat Lifter vehicles which lasts all month at twenty five percent off normal price. We will talk about all of this soon but at this moment we are all about IMP32 Hand of the Duxis our free female battlesuit tech in every order during April. You can use this miniature with the above rules snippet taken from the forthcoming expansion to Patrol Angis titled Callsign Taranis which deals with vehicles and much more in the game.

IMP32 Hand of the Duxis

For the whole of April 2016 this 15mm scale Human female battlesuit tech is automatically put into every order at the rate of one per order regardless of order value. It can also be bought in any amount on the monthly IMP page of the website for this month only too before being withdrawn on the first of next month. Dressed in specially modified Alwite powered armour fitted with specialised tools and resting her arm on the massive severed hand of a Duxis Battlesuit she is a character miniature for any sci-fi setting.The miniature is one piece in white metal and stands approx 16mm tall.

Of course you earn reward points on all orders too through your account. We realise that some of you may wish to purchase the currently free miniature to get multiples of it without placing a lot of orders so you can do just that. Visit this page on the website for the miniature at a fair price for a special miniature. There is a growing page on the Ion Age website where the current and all former IMP series free miniatures are shown so that you can see what came before. Enjoy and go HERE.

The Duxis Battlesuit is the graceful but lethal large infantry of the Retained serving in the Prydian Army and in the ranks of the Marcher Barons too. The model comes in posable parts which assembled stands about 30mm tall. There are eight different variants. Five with ranged weapons HERE and three close combat variants HERE with Sword, Spear or Fists. We also have a Fallen Duxis HERE a resin scenic item, casualty or scenario objective for your games.

In our first article of a month we look back at what was going on at this point last year and in our first year too. Each of these previous months in years had its own monthly free miniature plus releases and events which you might have missed. In April 2015 we had IMP20 Female Legion Officer and in April 2014 it was IMP08 Muster Girl. Roll over the links to visit that month on our blog. You can find these formally free miniatures in the Year One and Year Two Collections on their page of our website HERE. Time flies and its good to look over your shoulder and see what was going on!

Online Fans of the Ion Age

The Ion Age

Near a thousand years has passed since the galaxy brought itself to the brink of extinction in the Wars of the Khanate. Dragon ships burned a thousand worlds and humanity sank to its knees amid the ruins of its once glittering stellar commonwealth. At the battle for the Aldan star system the Ban of Prejudice was lifted and for once the liberated soldiers of the Free Companies stood shoulder to shoulder with the gene soldiers of the sterile Imperial Commonwealth; mankind once more united to stop an overwhelming alien threat. A billion men and woman died fighting and the matter gateway on Aldan IV newly built by the Khanate spewed forth legions from across the galactic plane at a rate that even the fanatical Templars of the Free Companies could not halt. It was then, according to the scorched records of the Starvaulters, that the Templars committed the greatest act of treachery even committed upon the body of humanity; creating the Dolorous Expanses. Whole star systems vanished and were replaced with impenetrable clouds of dust, covering dozens of light years each. An artefact of ancient design in the Aldan system, discovered by the Templars but kept secret, the Dolorous Expanses ended the wars at a stroke. Death and destruction beyond toll, changing the very face of the galaxy and all was still; the Free Companies cast out the Templars and the Imperium retreated into its shattered self. The Khanate...gone…for the time being.

Dark times followed and the fate of mankind looked grim, starvation gained hold and commerce fell to the wayside, as few starships could navigate the Dolorous Expanses and contact with the clouds meant instant obliteration. Inhabited worlds tortured their peoples in desperate acts of accelerated terra-forming; needing the land to feed themselves now that commerce was gone. The once zealot and fanatical Free Companies settled into an agrarian civilisation of fifty worlds bonded loosely by their ruling Barons, those of the Free Companies who had retained the armour and weapons of the mighty Crusader regiments.

On worlds such as New Glastonbury and its orbiting Tor these Barons consolidated their powers and on the whole were good to their people, they needed to be; too much had been lost already. Centuries passed and the region of space containing these green and pleasant worlds became known as the Prydian Precinct. Each stellar system looked to itself for sustenance and as technology returned the mighty starships refined their engines and learned how to use the titanic power of the Ion to generate intense magnetic fields and transport themselves instantly from one system to the next avoiding the deadly 'Dolo Clouds'. The need for a collective leadership became clear once more.

The core systems of Prydian space elected a council of Barons, who became the Aeddan's, to lead them and from among their number a titular head was chosen; a king to act on the behalf of all. To prevent the possible imperial ambitions of the past no standing army was allowed to be in the hands of the Aeddan Council or the King who resided on New Glastonbury. Each system would tend to its own needs to fend off pirates and mercenaries who did not respect the King's laws. Allotted to the Aeddan and the King were the million strong Starvaulters, an armed retinue to police the Prydian Precinct, but with no authority or desire to interfere with the Barons and their worlds; their impartiality was all that kept a vital respect for their judgements in matters the Barons could not agree upon.

For a time this arrangement worked and then war once more threatened the worlds of the Prydian Precinct, and war required troops. Millions of soldiers dressed once more in the augmented armour of their forefathers once more took to the field of battle on a hundred planets and countless orbiters and asteroids. It was in war that disaster fell, King Cyon III was killed, and he left his infant daughter in his place. A mere babe could not administer the needs of the Aeddan and their billions of charges, a guardianship was needed. The duty fell to Reckart Nevall a mighty Baron known as the 'Kingmaker' but his guardianship was not greeted by all with joy, over the fifteen years that followed two great camps grew within Prydian space and the Aeddan council split in twain.

A minor Baron whose world Kendal III was poor but populous brought the building tension to a head. Baron Kacj Dace rebelled against a judgement of the Starvaulters and called upon the Marcher Barons of the outer systems of Prydian space to assist him. This they did, seeing the Starvaulters as nothing more than Nevall's retinue to ensure his false control of the Aeddan Council. Naming themselves the League of Canlaster they elected Prince Edmund Bluefort as their rightful heir to the crown of Prydia and attacked Kendal III destroying the small force of Starvaulters on the planet. This single act ignited a civil war, a conflict the largest seen by the worlds of Prydian space for centuries. Nevall reacted with rage and called on the support of his own Marcher Barons to control the now teenage Princess Daphne Cyon and the throne she represented. He headed the League of Yordan named for his home world. The first battle of the Prydian Civil War was fought on Kendal III, many more soon followed. An elite strike force of Starvaulters stole Princess Cyon from Nevall's grasp and spirited her away to New Glastonbury where they now reside in force.

It is now the twelfth year of the Civil War and after suffering terrible setbacks and defeats the white and red uniformed troops of the Prydian Army have gained new vigour and are pushing the Leagues to their limit.Led by the veterans of the Starvaulters and driven by the Code Gallant the now adult Princess Daphne Cyon has promised to liberate each and every world in the Precinct and return it to the safe holding of the Addan Council.This she is doing to great effect and none in the Leagues seem able to prevent the cheering crowds and the flocking to the banners of the Addan.The Civil War might be nearing its end and for many this cannot come soon enough.

Rumours abound about the ever increasing numbers of Muster and Retained along with some of the shining lights of the Starvaulters being sent to the remote Carmarthen star cluster.Some have hinted that perhaps the Leagues are not the prime threat to Prydia and something else, something terrible lurks at the edge of Precinct space.An ancient enemy that all the preparation and new vitality of the Prydian Army may not be able to halt.

Do you want to liberate worlds held by the Marcher Barons or resist the advance of the Prydian Army? Or do you dream and fear of what is occurring in the remote Carmarthen star cluster?